Control means for the backing fabric feed in a pile tufting machine



Aug. 13, 1963 G. L. LEDFORD ETAL 3,100,466

CONTROL MEANS FOR THE BACKING FABRIC FEED IN A FILE TUFTING MACHINE Filed April 18. 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS GLENN J. LEDFORD HERBERT 5. MC DOWEILL Aug. 13, 1963 G. 1.. LEDFORD ETAL 3,100,466

CONTROL MEANS FOR THE BACKING FABRIC FEED IN A FILE TUFTING MACHINE Filed April 18, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 b4 4; I 62 m 47 50 L 1.1 w

FIG. 2

INVENTORS GLENN d. LEDFORD HERBERT 5. MC DOWELL Aug. 13, 1963 G. L. LEDFORD ,ETAL 3,100,455 CONTROL MEANS FOR THE BACKING FABRIC FEED Fil April 1961 IN A PILE TUFTING MACHINE 4 sheetssheet 3 FIG. 3 F|G.4 FIG. 5 FIG. 6

INVENTORS GLENN J. LEDFORD HERBERT 5. MC DOWELL BY ,La cu. W

Aug. 13, 1963 a. 1.. LEDFORD ETAL 3,100,465

CONTROL MEANS FOR THE BACKING FABRIC FEED IN A PILE TUFTING MACHINE Filed April 18, 196 1 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 7

FIG. 8

INVENTORS GLENN J. LEDFORD HERBERT 5. MC DOWELL BY yf ggca, W

United States Patent 3,100,466 CONTROL MEANS FOR THE BACKING FABRIC FEED IN A PILE TUFTING MACHINE Glenn J. Ledford, Clayton, and Herbert S. McDowell, Mountain City, Ga, assignors to James Lees and Sons Company, Bridgeport, Pa, a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 18, 1961, Ser. No. 103,875 r 4 Claims. (Cl. 112-79) This invention relates to pile tntting machines and more particularly to an improved control -for the backing feed in such a pile tufting machine.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a control mechanism for the backing feed in a pile fabric tufting machine which permits a wide range of interesting effects to be achieved.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pata yarn stitches when controlled by the slow drive for the wave line atachment,

FIGURE 4 shows the path followed by a row of pile V yarn stitches when controlled by the fast drive for the Wave line attachment,

FIGURE 5 shows the pathof a row of stitches when I the wave line attachment is feed of the backing fabric,

FIGURE 6 is a representative indication or the path followed by a single row of pile yarn stitches using various combinations of the paths of FIGURES 3-5, and r i FIGURES 7 and 8 show the directional variationthat can be achieved with individual stitches in a single row. i r 1 Referring now more particularly to the drawings, a tufting machine constructed in accordance with the present invention comprises the conventional base or frame member 10 over which the crankshaft housing 11 is mounted and which encloses the crankshafit 12 having a plurality of connecting rods 13 which reciprocate rods 14 up and down in guides 15. The needle bar 16 is supported on the ends of rods 14 carries a plurality of tufting needles 17 and a jerker bar 18 for the pile yarns Y. The usual presser foot 20 is secured to the guides 15 and the needles 17 penetrate a backing fabric F which is fed over a throat 21. In the conventional tufting machine a plurality of loopers are customarily employed for retaining or cutting the pile projections but in the interests of clarity these loopers have been omitted.

The fabric feed is from a conventional roll or source of supply, not shown, to a pin feed roller 22 over throat plate 21 and thence to a pin take-up roller 23. These rollers are driven in a counterclockwise direction as seen in FIGURE 1 to [feed the fabric in a longitudinal di rection over the throat 21 and under the'needles 17. In addition to the longitudinal feed for the fabric -F, it is well known to oscillate the fabric in a transverse direction by meansof a secondary shaft 25 journaled in a reducing unit 26 mounted on a bracket 27. Each end of shaft 25 is provided with a crank 30 and 31 each cat which is adjustable to displace or oscillate the shafts 32 and 33 disconnected to provide linear 3,100,466 Patented Aug. 13, 1963 2 for pin rolls 22 and 23 respectively. Thedrive for shaft 25 is through the speed reducing unit 26, an in-put shaft 27, sprocket 28, chain 29, and an electrically controlled clutch 35 actuated by means of brush assembly 36.

The power input to the mechanism shown in FIGURE 2 is through a main power shaft 40 journaled at 41 and keyed to a sprocket 42. sprocket 43 through chain 44. Sprocket 43 is keyed to a shaft 45 journaled at each end in the tufting machine frame at 46 and 47. A low speed sprocket 50 is selectively engagable withshaft 45 through an electric cl-utch 51 controlled by brush assembly 52. Sprocket 50 is drivingly connected to a shaft 53 through chain 54 and sprocket 55. Shaft 53 journaled at 56 and 57 also carries the high speed sprocket 60 which is in turn driven through chain 61, sprocket 62, and clutch 63 from shaft 45. Clutch 63 is selectively and drivingly connected to shaft 45 by means of a brush. assembly 64 in the same manner as is clutch 51.

The sequential operation of clutches 51 and 63 as well as clutch35 is controlled by means of a pattern mechanism also driven from shaft 45. This mechanism comprises a shaft 65 journaled at 66 and. 67 carrying a driven sprocket 68 having a chain 69 trained over driving sprocket 70 keyed to shaft 45. A jackshaft journaled at 76 and 77 carried a dual sprocket 78 in alignment with a dual sprocket 79 on shaft 65. Pattern chains 80 and 81 are trained over the sprockets 78 and 79 as shown clearly in FIGURE 2 and these pattern chains control microswitches 82 and 83 which in turn actuate clutches 36, 51,and 63 in accordance with the highand low links on the pattern chains.

Referring now to FIGURES 3 and 6, typical paths of pile :fabric stitches areshown which can be produced with the controls of pattern chains 80 and 81. When thebacking backing fabric F is controlled only by the engagement of slow clutch 51 all of the stitches on the backingfabric follow a sine path such as that shown for. example. in FIGURE 3. When the wave line attachment and particularly shaft 25 is driven through the fast clutch 63, the path folowed by the stitches is stilla sine curve but with more closely spaced nodes. This is shown generally in FIGURE 4. With the main driving clutch 35 disengaged so that the wave line attachment is completely disconnected, the stitches naturally follow the straight line path shown in FIGURE 5. With a judicious selection of the links on the pattern chains: {80 and 81, however, it is now possible for the fabric designer to combine the fast, slow, and straight lateral movements of the backing fabric to achieve a wide variety of interesting pattern effects. FIGURE 6 shows a typical example in which the upper portion shown at 85 is controlled by the slow speed clutch 51 and corresponds to the curve of FIGURE 3. At point 86, however, the pattern chain disengages clutch 35 so that all stitches across the fabric [follow the straight line path 87 which corresponds to FIGURE 5. At point 88 clutch 35 is engaged, clutch 51 disengaged, and high speed clutch 63 engaged so that the stitches follow the high speed path 89 corresponding to the. curve of FIGURE 4. At any point in the curvilinear path of the stitches the designer may interrupt the lateral travel of the backing fabric to introduce a long or a short series of linear stitches.

Such is shown at 90 in FIGURE 6 at which point the clutch 35 is disengaged to provide the straight path of stitches 91 parallel to the straight path 87. Path 91 or any subsequentpath may be in line with a previous straight path. At point 92 the straight or linear path for the stitches is interrupted and the engagement of clutches 51 and 63 reversed so that a slow speed wave line motion is introduced to follow the more gradually curving path 93- of FIGURE 3. It will be apparent Sprocket 42 drives a IOW- that clutches 51 and 63 may be controlled by the pattern chainsto disengage each one simultaneously thus automatically stopping the wave line motion of the pin feed and take-up rolls. The provision of a separate 7 clutches maybe disengaged simultaneously and thereby eliminate the necessity for the third clutch 35.

' It will be understood that carpet designers are lgiven a new tool as a result of the present invention which can be used to produce very interesting color effects in fabrics since the direction of differently colored yarns and their travel may be interrupted, changed, or combined in a V wide-variety of ways. By using contrasting colored yar'ns'in 'everyother needle, or in every other pair of needles, it is possible to'shift the backing fabric to produce an appearance of color changes in the same row. This, of course, canbe achieved by parallel, laterally spaced nuns such as 87 and 91 in FIGURE 6. By means of shifting rthe yan'nin certain needles so' that the straight runs of different yarns are in alignment, itlis possible to simulate yarn color change in the sarnerow of stitches. The yarn in the row of FIGURE 6 may be "of a given color but the yarns in either or both of the adjacent rows may be of a contrasting color so that the continuation of a row of stitches can give the appear- 'ance of color changes both in a linear or ,a curvilinear pattern throughoutthe length of the fabric.

A particularly sharp change effect due to higher frequency actuation of the clutches 35, 51, and 63 is shown in FIGURES 7 and 8. This may be used to break up parallelism or alignment of the individual stitches in each In FIGURE 7, it will be seen that stitches S S and S generally follow the overall sine curve of the row S. S S andS in the backing fabric F due to sudden shifts is br'oken-up so that there is an absence 'of a overall directional pattern in each row. 1

' 'l he'pnesent invention provides a wide range pattern control for the formation of pile yarn stitches in a backing fabric and permits the fabric designer to achieve new -and'unexpected design effects simplyby means of a "judicious and pro-determined selection of the linksin the pattern chains.

7 Having thusdescribed our invention, We claim: 1. Ina pile fabric tufting machine having a housing,

' avertically reciprocating needle 'banmounted in said housing, a throat defining a tufting zone ,over which a backing fabric is fed underneath the needle bar, a pin feed roll for the backing fabric, a pin take-up roll for the backing fabric, a shaft journaled on the tufting machine at right angles to the said rolls, a pair of cranks on said shaft, a connecting rod between one of said cranks and the pin feed roll, a connecting rod between the other of said cranks and the pin take-up r-oll, drive means for the shaft, a secondary shaft in said drive means, a high speed clutch on said secondary shaft, a low speed clutch on said secondary shaft, and pattern means for selectively actuating each of said clutches in accordance I with a pre-determined pattern to intermingle a fast'lateral oscillation of the backing fabric across the throat, a

slow lateral oscillation of the backing fabric across the throat, and a straight travel of backing fabric across the throat.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the pattern means comprises a pair of chains having high and low patternlinks.

3. In a pile fabric tufting machine having a housing, a vertically reciprocating needle bar mounted in said housing, 'a throat defining a tu-fting zone over which 'a' backing fabric is fed [underneath the needle, bar, a pin feed roll for the backing fabric, a pin take up' roll for the backing fabric, a shaft journaled on the tufting machine at right angles to the said rolls, a pair of cranks on said shaft, a connecting rod between one of said cranks and the pin feed roll, a connecting rod between the other of said cranks and the pintake-up 'roll, drive means for the shaft, an electrically actuated clutch in said drive means, a secondary shaft in said drive means, a high speed clu tch'on said secondary shaft, a'low speed clutch on .said secondary shaft, and pattern means In FIGURE 8, however, the placingof stitches for selectively actuating each of said clutches in accordance with a pre-determined pattern to intermingle a fast lateral oscillation of the backing fabric across the throat, a'slow lateral oscillation of the backing fabric across the throat, and a straight travel of backing fabric across the throat; i

4. Apparatus in'accordance with claim 3 in which the pattern: means comprises a pair of chains having high and low pattern' links. l

. References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Hamrick Nov. '19, 1946 2,460,512 Lanz Feb. 1, 1949 2,682,841 Mc0utchen "July 6,1954

2,853,032 Odenweller Sept. 23, 1958 2,855,879 Manning et al. Oct. 14, 1958' 2,966,866 Card Jan. 3,1961 

1. IN A PILE FABRIC TUFTING MACHINE HAVING A HOUSING, A VERTICALLY RECIPROCATING NEEDLE BAR MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING, A THROAT DEFINING A TUFTING ZONE OVER WHICH A BACKING FABRIC IS FED UNDERNEATH THE NEEDLE BAR, A PIN FEED ROLL FOR THE BACKING FABRIC, A PIN TAKE-UP ROLL FOR THE BACKING FABRIC, A SHAFT JOURNALED ON THE TUFTING MACHINE AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE SAID ROLLS, A PAIR OF CRANKS ON SAID SHAFT, A CONNECTING ROD BETWEEN ONE OF SAID CRANKS AND THE PIN FEED ROLL, A CONNECTING ROD BETWEEN THE OTHER OF SAID CRANKS AND THE PIN TAKE-UP ROLL, DRIVE MEANS FOR THE SHAFT, A SECONDARY SHAFT IN SAID DRIVE MEANS, A HIGH SPEED CLUTCH ON SAID SECONDARY SHAFT, A LOW SPEED CLUTCH ON SAID SECONDARY SHAFT, AND PATTERN MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY ACTUATING EACH OF SAID CLUTCHES IN ACCORDANCE WITH A PRE-DETERMINED PATTERN TO INTERMINGLE A FAST LATERAL OSCILLATION OF THE BACKING FABRIC ACROSS THE THROAT, A SLOW LATERAL OSCILLATION OF THE BACKING FABRIC ACROSS THE THROAT, AND A STRAIGHT TRAVEL OF BACKING FABRIC ACROSS THE THROAT. 